Page:Oriental Sketches Dramatic Sketches and Tales.pdf/23

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Seem the bright work of fairy wands,
    And fashioned out of pearls and flowers.
And as o'er these fair spires and domes
The stranger's eye enchanted roams,
Lost in delight, he almost deems
    That wrought by some fantastic spell,
'Twill vanish like his summer dreams,
    Or cloud-encircled citadel,
Floating along the moon-lit sky,
In evanescent pageantry.

Beside the alabaster tomb!
    All richly wreathed with glittering gems,
And shining like the jewelled plume
    O'er eastern monarch's diadems,
Fond lovers kneel—and as they gaze
Upon each ingot's brilliant blaze,
The bright mosaic of the floor
    Where many coloured agates vie
With onyx thickly scattered o'er
    Turquoise, and lapis lazuli;